The poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins

Aims of this guide

This study guide is designed with A level students particularly in mind. The poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins is imbued with the world view and background from which he came, which in his case was heavily influenced by the Bible and Christian thought, whilst also assuming knowledge of classical stories and culture. He wrote in the expectation that his audience would comprehend this world view.

Today many students are less familiar with these aspects so this guide aims:

• To help you engage with the poetry of Hopkins so that you can successfully pass your exams
• to consider all of Hopkins' ideas in their context
• to carefully explain the cultural aspects which may be unfamiliar, as part of explaining Hopkins' poetic ideas and techniques

Many of Hopkins' ideas were founded on his reading of the Christian Bible. He and his readers would have been familiar with the text of the Authorised Version (AV), so references in this text draw on that, with a helpful modern translation from Today's New International Version (TNIV) alongside.